Logano takes Richmond, Honeycutt tightens the Truck bubble and New Hampshire leads Week 34

The week ended with two very different kinds of pressure. Joey Logano won Richmond by 0.392 seconds, while the Cup field still has two races to sort out the last Chase places. The Truck Series has one race left to settle its final Chase transfer, NHRA heads to Brainerd for its penultimate regular-season stop, and IMSA's GT title fights move to VIR. This issue covers Aug. 10-16, 2026, with upcoming times converted to UTC. 1

Logano led 95 of 400 laps and took the lead for good during the late pit-stop cycle with 25 laps remaining. Chase Briscoe led a race-best 171 laps, but a late brake problem left him 0.392 seconds short. Austin Cindric's third place moved him from 16th to 15th in the standings, which matters because the 16-driver Chase field begins at Darlington in three weeks. 1

The race's swing point came in Stage 2. Zane Smith spun and hit the outside wall on lap 125, and the caution caught Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs on the wrong side of the green-flag pit cycle. Only 12 cars were on the lead lap at the lap 230 caution. Logano and Briscoe then turned the closing stint into a brake-versus-track-position fight. 1

The Chase bubble is clearer, but it is not comfortable. Shane van Gisbergen holds 16th with a 50-point cushion over Ryan Preece. Ross Chastain sits 63 points behind van Gisbergen. New Hampshire and Daytona are the only races left to set the 16-driver field. 1

Kaden Honeycutt led 225 of 250 laps at Richmond, swept both stages, and beat teammate Corey Heim by 1.313 seconds. Layne Riggs finished 15th, but he still carries a 61-point lead into New Hampshire. 2

The final Chase place now belongs provisionally to Tyler Ankrum. His team was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall, but he recovered to 11th. Stewart Friesen then crashed into the Turn 1 wall on lap 216 and finished last, moving Ankrum 20 points clear of Friesen and 21 ahead of Garcia. The Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire is the decision race. 3

Tristan McKee won Wednesday's 250-lap Super Late Model feature at Berlin Raceway by beating Bubba Pollard in a nine-lap sprint. The 16-year-old used the bottom line on the final restart, cleared Pollard, and then drove away in Wauters Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet. Evan Shotko's late crash left McKee and Pollard to settle the finish. 4

Kyle Larson then completed the strangest doubleheader of the week. After bringing his Cup car home sixth at Richmond, he flew to Iowa and led every lap of the 50-lap Knoxville Nationals finale. Sheldon Haudenschild finished second, Kasey Kahne third, James McFadden fourth, and Logan Schuchart fifth. The victory was Larson's fourth Knoxville Nationals title and paid $200,000. 5

IMSA's main-series story this week is a title reset and a VIR preview, not a new WeatherTech or Michelin Pilot Challenge race result. The new IMSA result came from the two-hour Airbnb Endurance Challenge finale at Road America, an LMP3 support championship. The No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier, shared by Wyatt Brichacek and Lincoln Day, won. Teammates Ari Balogh and Garett Grist finished second in the No. 30, moving from third in the championship, 40 points off the lead, to first after trouble hit both cars ahead of them. 67

Front Row Motorsports will keep Noah Gragson in the No. 4 Ford through the 2027 Cup season on a one-year extension. Gragson joins Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith as the team's three confirmed Cup drivers for next year. The team described the deal in its Aug. 14 announcement, and Motorsport.com reported that the agreement includes options beyond 2027. 89

Richmond also supplied the week's clearest rulebook news. Ankrum's too-many-men-over-the-wall penalty changed the Truck bubble, Ty Gibbs took an early pit-road penalty, and Austin Hill was penalized for an uncontrolled tire. NASCAR completed the Cup post-race inspection with Logano confirmed as the winner, then sent the Nos. 2, 9, 20 and 97 cars to the R&D Center for engine dynamometer testing; the Nos. 9 and 20 also face teardown inspection. 1

Sunday is the useful sorting point for the week. The Cup race tests whether van Gisbergen can protect 16th, the Truck race has a direct Ankrum-Friesen-Garcia consequence, and VIR brings the two WeatherTech GT classes into the same title window. Brainerd adds the drag-racing version of the same problem: the regular season is nearly over, and the points leaders have one major stop left before the Countdown field takes shape. 710